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Let me ask you, do you have any equipment that will operate when it is being exposed to -55 deg C? Id like to see anything you have from any off the shelf buy it at a store that has spec's that say it will operate at -55 deg C. Yet thats what I have to try to build for.

It's indeed a challenge to design circuitry to function at temperature extremes. In my career, we had to design to -65 deg C operation, but our applications were all terrestrial based: we could ramp the testing temperatures up, or down, very slowly, over a span of hours. WB9SBD faces a tougher challenge in that his low temperatures change rapidly as the balloon ascends (thermal shock). Add to that big humidity changes as the balloon goes up and low air pressures at high balloon altitudes, and the design gets even tougher. You can design a circuit that will work perfectly at room temperature, but there is always an environmental point where it will quit working. The component that causes the circuit to fail could be something as complex as an I.C., or as simple as a tiny capacitor.

I don't know why anyone would knock playing with balloons and radios with all the fun that is bound to be.
In the meantime, I scanned through comments etc. and don't see any mention of locating the balloon; any progress in that department?
Won't it show up sooner or later (e.g. gets to a lower altitude and begins to function once more)?

I for one think this is really cool! I found the NSS website and monitored the launch. My antenna here in Oshkosh is poor but I was able to decode a few packets. Thanks for sharing and letting us all be part of these experiments.

I still turn on the radio now and then. With the dial on 10.14575 I still pick up something every 10 minutes or so. It almost looks like an RTTY signal that loses power about a 2 second into the transmission. Is it likely this is the balloon?

I don't know why anyone would knock playing with balloons and radios with all the fun that is bound to be.
In the meantime, I scanned through comments etc. and don't see any mention of locating the balloon; any progress in that department?
Won't it show up sooner or later (e.g. gets to a lower altitude and begins to function once more)?

K5CO, Rob in New Mexico

We hope that is the case. But right now I am thinking that it has landed somewhere, now where is a good question. It is either water, or ground based but with the solar panel facing down, or the cold not only froze the electronics, but damaged them to not running.

It has to have landed in an un populated area, because the flight system is soo large that if people are anywhere near it ,, it will be seen, So my guess is in a rural or farming area. It's next hope for recovery is harvest time or hunting time and someone comes across it.

I for one think this is really cool! I found the NSS website and monitored the launch. My antenna here in Oshkosh is poor but I was able to decode a few packets. Thanks for sharing and letting us all be part of these experiments.

I still turn on the radio now and then. With the dial on 10.14575 I still pick up something every 10 minutes or so. It almost looks like an RTTY signal that loses power about a 2 second into the transmission. Is it likely this is the balloon?

Aaron

I possibly could be, can you make a recording of it and send it to me?

Respect is given when it is deserved, KK4DDT. The context of launching transmitters into the upper atmosphere with hot air balloons that get lost due to the launcher's inability to control or track is, by most reasonable estimations, is not deserving of respect. Not that it's deserving of derision either. While I cannot speak for other people, the post I made was made in humor making light of what is perceived on my part as a ridiculous avoidable situation. If the humor and lightness was overlooked by anyone might I suggest they reconsider.